Chapter Thirty-Eight

Rel watched as the last of his customers for the day trailed out, then proceeded to lock up behind them. After carefully adjusting the curtains at the front of the building, the usually patient Syldrari turned and fastened his sharp, threatening gaze on Casair.

“You are going to take me to Jysel,” Rel informed Casair in an eerily calm tone.

“…yes, sir…” Casair’s shoulders drooped.

Several minutes later, Rel strode through his brother’s temporary headquarters as if he owned the place. He passed confused and wary soldiers as he made his way to Jysel’s office, with Casair following reluctantly behind. Upon arrival at the office, Rel sheared the door clean off its hinges and walked across the fallen contraption.

Sal’aphel let out a forlorn whine as he scented the air, but he made no move to stop his other owner. Rel paused long enough to scratch Sal’aphel’s head, then continued his march toward his brother. Jysel sighed in irritation as his twin leaned over the desk, his irritation tinging more than his physiological glow. Even Rel’s ‘aura,’ as humans would call it, was alight with the myriad hues of irritation, anger, and several others. Utterly done with his brother and the others, he fully intended to take matters into his own hands if he had to.

“What now? I have queens to rescue.” Jysel sighed.

“You will keep me informed of developments in your work from here on out— especially those pertaining to Elara,” Rel informed his twin, the room beginning to vibrate as he glowered at Jysel.

“It’s safer for you to remain uninvolved—”

Rel bared his fangs at his twin. “Uninvolved? I was hired to train her how to fight—training she desperately needs. I’m already involved!”

Jysel rubbed his temples as he slumped back in his seat. “My mission remains to save the majority of the queens trapped on this planet. I can’t afford for my mission to become…just about her.”

“You may not wish to focus on her, but that doesn’t mean I can’t or won’t. Brief me.” Rel straightened to his full height and crossed his arms, but Jysel still hesitated.

“Should I call Zafir in?” Casair asked.

“I… Yes.” Jysel grimaced. “He can explain the situation and his hypotheses to Rel himself. I simply don’t have the time to go over it again.

“Then, Rel, you can decide for yourself if you truly want to be involved with my mission…or with her.”

“ What …?” Rel started, narrowing his eyes, but Casair quietly placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Rel looked back to Jysel, but he had already buried his attention in his pile of documents again.

“I’ll find you a room and call Zafir in. He should be free at this time of night.” Casair kept his voice low as he led Rel down a hallway. “Listen…Jysel has Elara’s best interests in mind and so does Zafir. If the good professor is right, Elara poses a serious threat. It’s on you to decide if you think she’s worth that risk. Jysel is still struggling with that himself—among other things.

“That damned cult is making our job harder. They’ve started trying to beat us to rescuing the queens—claim they need to prepare a spouse for their reincarnated Abyss Father. It’s getting out of hand, and the last thing we need is them catching wind of Elara’s…quirks.”

“Quirks?” Rel questioned, eyeing Casair suspiciously.

Casair slowly shook his head. “Zafir will give you the whole story…but the short version is, she did something that gives us reason to believe she may’ve come from a clan of Depthwalkers or worse. …most likely worse, if I’m bein’ honest. She may not have even known it before the Incident, but if she did…”

“Depthwalkers? Here ? This planet hasn’t been a frontier for centuries!” Rel shook his head. “And she has none of the characteristics of one. She’s hardly cold or crazed, and that blue she’s begun to turn…it’s inconsistent with any clan I’ve heard of.”

“She’s not catalogued in any database either—legal or otherwise—that we know of,” Casair offered. “Jysel’s got a small team of people he trusts searching for hints of a Syldrari crash site or outpost here, but most of us agree with your assessment.

“Personally, I’m inclined to think she was raised not knowing any of it. If they believed they were stranded on this planet with humans, they would’ve bided their time here blending in with the locals.”

“Fetch Zafir and tell him he will divulge everything he knows—or I will wring it out of him myself.” Rel narrowed his eyes at Casair. “Jysel may be concerned about his mission, but I am prepared to undock the Syldrari Sector and take Elara somewhere the humans will never reach her. Give me a reason not to.”

Casair swallowed hard. He wanted to voice his agreement with Rel’s method, but he knew that would only serve to make the other man act on that thought immediately. There was a bigger picture to look at—especially if they wanted to keep what little of Elara’s trust they had in the process.

“I’ll get Zafir, but, Rel, you need to listen to what he has to say. We’ve all gotta be careful with how we choose to move—you included.” Casair shook his head before picking up a communicator and pressing a series of buttons that released reverberating pings in different tones. “Zafir, get your ass down here and brief Rel before he does something stupid. Yes, I am holding you to stopping him. You’re the one with the full picture here.”

Rel shot Casair a disgruntled look before settling into a seat to wait. “I won’t be kept in the dark any longer, Casair.”

“You know that isn’t my decision.” Casair shook his head at the grumpy man. “I’m worried about her too, but give Zafir’s information time to stew before you decide how to act, alright?”

“Of course. When is the universe ever black and white, or even black, white, and grey?” Rel shook his head once then gave Casair a small smile. “Jysel is worried about Elara as well?”

“I’m pretty damn sure convincing you to stand down is gonna be easier than convincing him was,” Casair answered with a snort. “He may bluster about staying on mission, but we had to physically hold him down so Zafir could talk sense into him. At this point he’s just trying to convince himself that it’s the right thing to do.”

Rel stared at Casair in disbelief. “What could cause him…”

“Maybe we should restrain Rel too, to be certain?” Zafir asked irritably as he stepped out of a portal. “Before you ask, yes, Elara got home just fine. She’s already fallen asleep to the music your two scoundrels sent her home with.

“Now then…let’s get to your briefing. I have work to do on this very subject and I am not pleased that you are taking up my time.”

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